Insulated cables with plugs, or connectors, at each end may be referred to as patch cords or patch cables. Patch cords, which may employ copper wire or optical fiber, for example, are used to enable communications between electronic devices such as network switches, servers, and storage devices in a data center or server farm, for example. Generally, customers order cables of different lengths in predetermined quantities based on their projected usage. That usage may vary according to a particular installation and the associated distances and numbers of connections between devices in the installation. A customer's requirements may frequently change to accommodate different installations or different aspects of a given installation (through reconfiguration, for example). To satisfy customers' varying cable requirements, cable providers produce cable assemblies of varying length and quantity from reels of cable material. In addition to the wasted cable material associated with such an approach, cables are typically provided to a customer loose within a box and, possibly, wrapped in a plastic sleeve.
A customer, such as a technician installing or reconfiguring an electronic installation, such as a data center, may have to fumble through a loose-packed container of cables and unwrap the cables before use. Oftentimes, the connectors on the cable-ends may engage with one another, causing further delays and annoyances. Although this may seem to be no more than a minor annoyance, when repeated tens, or even hundreds, of times per day, five days a week, fifty weeks out of the year, this approach to packaging cables, cords, straps, and wires may contribute to a significant inefficiency and associated expense.